digitaldoc wrote:I wonder if a 1213S to 16x firmware swap is a possibility. Strange that LiteOn would let Memorex rebadge and sell their drive first. Perhaps they want to work the firmware kinks out first w/o "spoiling" the LiteOn name.

Wouldn't be the first time Lite-On has done this. Here in the US, TDK and Memorex often ship their Lite-On clones before Lite-On.

yup - specially some time ago, now it seems they release their own retail boxes a tad sooner...

beach-hobo wrote:Here's a good Question for the gang. The D2 has an external version. Would like to know how they are doing that. I don't think it is going to be usb since the burst transfer rate is about 11MBS (8X). My guess it's going to be IEEE1394b. You have to have at least a 22 MBS to support a 16X drive.

digitaldoc wrote:I wonder if a 1213S to 16x firmware swap is a possibility. Strange that LiteOn would let Memorex rebadge and sell their drive first. Perhaps they want to work the firmware kinks out first w/o "spoiling" the LiteOn name.

Their rebadgers are their best customers, so they get first dibs on production. What is left after that then gets sold under the LiteOn name...

Often same for Pioneer, Hitachi-LG, NEC, Philips, Ricoh.

The first time I noticed anybody selling Xeon 800MHz was with Dell US online site. The big guys usually ship to OEM first and then to retail. Same for Microsoft.

These drives are finally shipping. I saw the internal version at Best Buy tonite for about $149.

I gotta say that I really like the way the drive looks. It's obviously a Lite-On, but the colors and blue LED make it stand out a little.

Take note that the drive does NOT write to 8x DVD+R media at 16x or even 12x. At least for now, you will need media rated at 16x. I'm guessing this goes for the Sony DRU-710 and Lite-On SOHW-1633 as well, but I need to check this.

According to Memorex, their new 16x media should show up about the same time as these drives.. so any day now.

One other thing.. a new firmware update (BWSB?) should be available soon as well.